e-therapeutics PLC (ETX) said it has raised £13.5mln from funds managed by British investment giant M&G - cash that will be used to accelerate the development of its pipeline of gene silencing drug candidates.
The newly-minted shares will be sold for 20p each - a premium to Thursday’s close.
ETX has been a pioneer in using computing power to identify the next generation of RNA interference treatments.
“This successful fundraise underlines ETX's position at the intersection of computational approaches to drug discovery and genetic medicine, using RNA interference as our drug modality of choice,” said chief executive Ali Mortazavi.
Investors were told the latest influx of cash would be deployed to accelerate growth, with a specific focus on its internal pipeline.
It will also be put to work developing cell type-specific computational tools and datasets, while it will also be used to bolster the headcount.
In a separate announcement, the group said it posted an operating loss of £4.6mln for the six months ended July 31 as it invested £3.1mln in its research and development efforts. It generated £2.2mln of R&D tax credits.
ETX ended the period with £21.8mln of cash or cash equivalents.